From the moment that casting was announced, director Antoni Cimolino was transparent about his motivation for this Stratford Festival season’s production of The Tempest.

Simply, Cimolino wanted to work with Martha Henry, casting the acclaimed actor in the pivotal – and traditionally masculine – role of Prospero. Cimolino was convinced that Henry, an actor of immense gifts, would bring "brilliant, brilliant discoveries" to her role as the driven sorceress.

Cimolino was not wrong.

On an opening night delayed by more than a week because of a bomb threat, Henry delivered a towering performance, imbuing her Prospero with the warmth and lived-in wisdom that comes with a hard-earned maturity. She’s riveting from her first moments on stage, using her self-taught sorcery to summon the titular tempest that will deliver her enemies into her power. But while driven by a desire for revenge, it’s Prospero’s other emotional qualities that Henry brings to the fore.

In her scenes with her daughter Miranda, played by Stratford newcomer Mamie Zwettler, Henry embodies maternal concern and affection, showing her love through tender gestures and reassuring words. She shows a sterner affection for the sprite Ariel, her tool in the intended undoing of her enemies. It’s this fondness that helps inform one of the best moments of Henry’s performance – a sudden realization that her empty quest for retribution is hurting the people she loves. The audience shares in that moment, conveyed through Henry’s increasingly remorseful expression, as Ariel shares his genuine concern for the suffering of Gonzalo, Prospero’s benefactor.

"…the rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, the sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown further."

Henry’s performance forms the centre of The Tempest, her powerful sorceress being the architect of all that befalls the nobles, villains, and spirits of the play. Once the duchess of Milan, Prospero was exiled with her young daughter to this unnamed island through a conspiracy headed by her usurper brother, Antonio (Graham Abbey). Years later, the sorceress has an opportunity for vengeance when a ship carrying Antonio and the other conspirators, including the king of Naples, sails near Prospero’s island. Calling down a great storm through her magic – but ensuring no one is injured in the wreck – the sorceress looks to punish her enemies through her illusions, using her command of the island’s spirits to help achieve her aims. Separating father from son while besetting her enemies with different calamities and temptations, Prospero soon has revenge within her grasp.

With The Tempest often considered Shakespeare’s celebration of the fantasy of theatre, it’s fitting this Stratford Festival production elevates Prospero’s tricks and figments with some spectacular stagecraft. Designer Bretta Gerecke deserves praise for a remarkable setting that creates Prospero’s island cell through the gnarled and twisting roots of a massive tree. Prospero’s sorcery is aided by lighting designer Michael Walton’s own wizardry, using suspended globes of coloured lights and glowing bulbs on the set and stage floor to shape the production’s magic.

The talents of these designers culminate in one of the production’s wonderful set pieces – a massive and terrifying harpy that descends to torment the unrepentant Antonio, King Alonso (David Collins), Sebastian (Andre Sills) and the other nobles. With glowing red eyes, bristling black feathers and a harrowing shriek, courtesy of sound designer Thomas Ryder Payne, the enormous beast is truly forbidding.

Another design highlight is the blessing of Miranda and Ferdinand, King Alonso’s son. To celebrate the couple’s engagement, Prospero, as director, summons three spirits – Juno (Lucy Peacock), Ceres (Alexis Gordon) and Iris (Chick Reid) – to perform a masque to commemorate "a contract of true love." The dazzling lighting and equally dazzling costumes bring a sense of the uncanny to the ceremony. With Juno perched in a peacock-feathered throne and the two other goddesses clad in multi-hued dresses with sweeping trains, the effect is awe-inspiring.

While Henry’s outstanding performance and the design are true highlights of this production, the rest of The Tempest’s cast also deserve plaudits. Zwettler brings a convincing guilelessness and innocence to her performance as Miranda while Sebastien Heins is a suitably virtuous as Ferdinand. Stephen Ouimette and Tom McCamus are terrific in their roles as Trinculo and Stephano, the drunkenly bumbling villains. Scheming with the monstrous Caliban – played with a wonderful physicality by Michael Blake – to murder Prospero and take ownership of the island, the two actors still provide some of the biggest laughs of the play.

Andre Morin is terrific as the sprite Ariel, using movement and mien to manifest the otherworldly nature of this fairy servant. Morin makes clear his character’s conflicting motivations – his gratitude to Prospero, his yearning to be free and his sympathy for the shipwrecked men.

Cimolino, Henry, and their collaborators have created a delightfully realized staging of The Tempest, bringing captivating performances and stunning design to the Festival Theatre stage. Henry, who began her Festival career as Miranda opposite William Hutt’s Prospero in 1962, comes full circle, adding her own unforgettable portrayal of the sorcerer to the Festival’s annals. While The Tempest was hindered on opening night by a tempest out of its control, this magnificent production was well worth the wait.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.